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Papers
20 resultsShowing papers similar to Tiny but Deadly: a Threat to Environment
ClearA review on cigarette butts: Environmental abundance, characterization, and toxic pollutants released into water from cigarette butts
This review examines the environmental impact of discarded cigarette butts, which number in the trillions worldwide each year and are among the most common litter items. Researchers found that cigarette filters release harmful substances including heavy metals, nicotine, and cellulose acetate microplastic fibers when they enter water. The study highlights that cigarette butt pollution represents a significant but often overlooked source of both chemical contamination and microplastic pollution in aquatic environments.
A Review of Environmental Pollution from the Use and Disposal of Cigarettes and Electronic Cigarettes: Contaminants, Sources, and Impacts
Researchers reviewed the environmental pollution caused by the use and disposal of cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, including their role as a source of microplastic contamination. Cigarette butts made of cellulose acetate are minimally degradable and represent a major source of both bulk plastic and microplastic pollution, particularly in aquatic ecosystems. The study documents that cigarette butt leachate and nicotine are toxic to a wide range of organisms from microbes to mammals.
The Content of Heavy Metals in Cigarettes and the Impact of Their Leachates on the Aquatic Ecosystem
Researchers analyzed heavy metal content in cigarettes and their leachates, finding that discarded cigarette butts release significant concentrations of metals including cadmium, lead, and chromium into aquatic ecosystems, posing hazards to water quality and living organisms.
Cigarette butts as a source of urban ecosystem pollution
Cigarette butts—the world's most littered item at ~4.5 trillion discarded annually—introduce over 4,000 chemicals into ecosystems and are a major source of microplastic fibers from cellulose acetate filters, with this review analyzing the toxicity of cigarette butt filtrate to aquatic and terrestrial organisms.
Fate of nanoplastics in the environment: Implication of the cigarette butts
This study investigated cigarette butts as an underrecognized source of nanoplastic pollution, finding that cellulose acetate filters can fragment into nanoscale particles that disperse in the environment. Given the enormous volume of cigarette litter worldwide, butts may represent a significant and overlooked nanoplastic pathway.
Cigarette filters as a major source of microfibers in aquatic environments.
This study found that discarded cigarette butts persistently release cellulose acetate microfibers into aquatic environments, identifying cigarette filters as a major and underappreciated source of microfiber pollution. The research quantified microfiber release rates under simulated environmental conditions.
Research on the presence of cigarette butts and their leaching of chemical pollutants and microparticles: the case of Dalian, China
This study quantified toxic substances (heavy metals, PAHs, and microplastics) leached from littered cigarette butts from major Chinese brands, providing data on the pollution contribution of cigarette butt litter in urban Chinese environments.
Koja je cijena pušenja? – Opasnosti za okoliš
This Croatian paper reviews the environmental hazards of cigarette butt litter, noting that approximately 80% of cigarette butts are discarded into the environment. Cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate, a polymer that degrades slowly and leaches toxic chemicals into soil and water. The authors discuss biodegradable filter alternatives as a strategy to reduce plastic pollution from tobacco products.
Cigarette butts as a microfiber source with a microplastic level of concern
Researchers investigated whether cigarette butts are a significant source of microfiber pollution by analyzing smoked and unsmoked filters. They found that cigarette filters release large quantities of cellulose acetate microfibers, with smoked filters releasing even more than unsmoked ones due to degradation during use. The study identifies discarded cigarette butts as an overlooked but substantial contributor to microplastic pollution in the environment.
Smoked cigarette butts: Unignorable source for environmental microplastic fibers
Researchers highlight that discarded cigarette butts, made of cellulose acetate plastic, are an overlooked but major source of environmental microplastic fibers, with each butt containing over 15,000 detachable plastic strands. They estimate that approximately 300,000 tons of potential microplastic fibers from cigarette butts may enter aquatic environments annually. The study notes that these fibers also carry toxic substances like nicotine and carcinogenic compounds that can harm aquatic organisms.
Cigarette filter fibres as a source and sink of trace metals in coastal waters
Spent cigarette filter material, made from cellulose acetate, leaches metals like cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc into river and coastal waters — and also absorbs trace metals from the water column. This dual role as both a source and sink of metal contamination makes cigarette filter microplastic fibers a potentially significant but overlooked contributor to heavy metal cycling in aquatic environments.
Littered cigarette butts in both coastal and inland cities of China: occurrence and environmental risk assessment
Researchers surveyed cigarette butt pollution across four Chinese cities, both coastal and inland, assessing contamination levels and heavy metal leaching risks. The study found that cigarette butts release microplastics and heavy metal particles, with contamination patterns varying by land use type and city development level, highlighting cigarette waste as an underappreciated source of microplastic pollution.
The environmental and health impacts of tobacco agriculture, cigarette manufacture and consumption
This review examines the environmental footprint of tobacco beyond the well-known health harms, covering impacts at every stage from crop growing to cigarette butt disposal. Cigarette filters — which are made of plastic — are among the most common items found in environmental litter surveys, contributing both microplastics and toxic chemicals to soil and water.
Different faces of cigarette butts, the most abundant beach litter worldwide.
Cigarette butts collected from an urban beach were characterized at different stages of physical and chemical degradation, revealing they shed cellulose acetate microplastic fibers and leach toxic chemicals as they break down. As the most abundant beach litter worldwide, cigarette butts represent a significant but often overlooked source of plastic fibers and chemical contamination in marine environments.
Quantitative assessment and spatial distribution of macroplastic and cigarette butt contamination in Bushehr's stormwater system near the sensitive Persian Gulf coast
This study assessed the abundance and spatial distribution of macroplastics and cigarette butts across multiple sites, quantifying their contribution to environmental microplastic pollution as cellulose acetate filters degrade. Cigarette butts emerged as a significant and underappreciated source of plastic contamination in terrestrial and aquatic environments.
The role of cigarette butts as vectors of metals in the marine environment: Could it cause bioaccumulation in oysters?
Researchers leached metals from cigarette butts under simulated marine conditions and then exposed Pacific oysters to the leachate, finding that cigarette butt-leached metals bioaccumulated in oyster tissue, suggesting that cigarette litter in coastal environments represents a pathway for metal contamination of seafood.
Microplastics from cigarette filters: Comparative effects on selected terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates
Researchers compared the effects of microplastics from smoked and unsmoked cigarette filters on both land and water invertebrates. Smoked filter microplastics were more toxic due to the added chemicals from tobacco smoke, causing reduced survival and reproduction in the test organisms. Since cigarette butts are one of the most littered items worldwide, this study shows they are a significant and underappreciated source of toxic microplastic pollution in the environment.
Cigarette Butts; A Little Leaven That Leaveneth the Whole Lump
Cigarette filters are among the most littered plastic items globally, yet most smokers surveyed in Nigeria's Bayelsa State did not know that butts are non-biodegradable and toxic — and 46% admitted to discarding them randomly in the environment. Because cigarette filters are a significant source of microplastics and release hundreds of chemicals into air, water, and soil, the study calls for both public education and greater accountability from tobacco companies for end-of-life filter management.
Cellulose acetate cigarette filter is hazardous to human health
Researchers reviewed evidence on whether cellulose acetate cigarette filters provide any protective health benefit and their environmental impact as plastic waste. The study found persistent concerns that filters offer limited health protection while contributing significantly to environmental pollution, as discarded cigarette butts made from this plant-based plastic are a major source of toxic litter.
The unignorable ecological impact of cigarette butts in the ocean: an underestimated and under-researched concern
This opinion piece argues that cigarette butts — which contain plastic cellulose acetate filters that fragment into microplastics — are a significantly underestimated source of ocean plastic pollution. Billions of cigarette butts are discarded each year, and recognizing them as a major microplastic source is important for designing more effective litter-reduction policies.